1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

[DarrenH]

If any of you guys are interested, just finished off nut and bolt restoration of an early 3 speed raleigh bomber. turning this...



into this...



full write up if you are interested....

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=257484

[dancedj]

Re: 1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

Very nice never heard of a bomber before

[astravanmk2]

Re: 1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

Awesome work darren super retro. Perfect transport round billing aquadrome :-)

[DarrenH]

Re: 1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

i know, right !

bomber is from chopper, grifter, boxer, strika era of raleigh "action" bikes, late 70s early 80s. bomber was the daddy of them all for teenagers and adults, a predecessor to mountain bikes. its also before my time but this was my uncles and i rescued it out of my nans shed couple months back

[1800turbogte]

Re: 1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

Oh I think I had a strika, if thats the one with the peddle backwards rear brake Top work matey
My Mountain bike is now 20yrs old it's a Kona Fire Mountain.
Its still on its original tyres with no punctures

Chris

[DarrenH]

Re: 1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

thanks mate

strika was the teeny kids bike, then boxer was bit older sort of 8+, grifter was the size of modern bmx, then bomber

[1800turbogte]

Re: 1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

Well I was about 8 or 9 it may not have been a rayleigh, it was green. I loved it lol

[BenH]

Re: 1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

Top job you've done there bud! Building wheels is good fun, I made mine up for my mtb. Is that the freeware wheel calc program I see ?

[Jags C20LET]

Re: 1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

wow! I had one of those as a kid. As some of you may know, I'm a Burner junkie and have a mk1 and a mk2 Super Tuff Burner. Love 'em, Well done there buddy, looks spankin'.

[mrdezzer]

Re: 1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

Just noticed the hub cleaners for the chrome wheels top work

[Guest]

Re: 1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

Liking the Ever-ready lamp set, very retro.

[DarrenH]

Re: 1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

thanks guys

not sure what a freeware wheel calc program is ! i just followed a guide on youtube how to lace wheels (aussie girl doing a bmx wheel)

as for the burners, i had a raleigh chrome burner for most of my biking years, i remember it being pretty useless because it was steel, and chromed, couldnt even lift it above waist height lol

the original picture has hub cleaners on it too, they are just black

"battery guzzling" ever ready lamps. i worked out they would last 14 hours, and i expect going dim at around half that lol. found some LED replacement bulbs on ebay which is worth a crack, although i have an incling they will be 4 times brighter than last 4 times longer.

[dongaz]

Re: 1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

When I said in my thread I had seen your bomber thread I didn't mean this, I saw the bit you mentioned on one of your gte threads, anyway you've done a cracking job there mate, I like it a lot, I can vaguely remember the bomber my mate's dad had one, so will the bomber be making a apprence at billing?

[DarrenH]

Re: 1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

thanks mate, couple months hard work just finished rebuilding the original saddle so i can swap it back in for the temporary post office one ! (mum made a new leather cover for original)



i did think about roof racking it on the white merit for retro scene points, now i have the paddy hopkirk bars that fit a mk2. but ultimately depends on me going to billing

[jonni2rets]

Re: 1981 Raleigh bomber restoration

Don't remember these but hats off to you for restoring this classic bike, nice work mate